> My problem with this is that there are many analyses which show that
> ethanol, overall, is an energy negative proposition. Thus it won't
> become a
> major input to the supposed hydrogen economy. The basic problem with
> the
> hydrogen economy is that there are no hydrogen mines, no hydrogen
> wells, and
> thus one must use other energy to create the hydrogen with the
> requisite
> loss of useful work in the process.
>
> Whether ethanol will work is still questionable in my mind. The
> studies I
> have seen have the USDA and Corn grower's associations supporting
> studies
> which show that ethanol is energy positive, and others like David
> Pimental
> saying it takes 29 percent more energy to form ethanol. One corn
> grower's
> association study which said that ethanol was energy positive, didn't
> account for the energy to build the machinery needed to farm the corn.

This device may save some of the energy input because you don't have to
separate the water from the ethanol. However, you do have to heat
the mixture to 500 C. I now have a .pdf of the article I can ship to
those interested.